In-depth budgets from top-performing dairy farms have been pulled together in an online resource to help struggling farmers cope with lower milk prices.
DairyNZ estimated the average New Zealand farm would lose around $150,000 to $200,000 at the forecast payout for 2015-16.
Fonterra's milk price forecast for the new season sits at $5.25, while economists have dropped their forecasts as low as $4.50.
Economic modelling showed farmers could recover from the low milk price three to four years faster if they could decrease their potential loss by up to $1kg ms this season.
One waywas by spending on the right things and implementing good budgetary control of costs, DairyNZ general manager of research and development David McCall said. Budgets had been gathered from farms throughout the country with a sub-$3.50kg ms cost of production.
''These top-performing farms have honed their farm systems. Many of these farmers have learnt lessons from past downturns to build resilience.
''We've bottled that experience in a sense, by creating a .. . tool that will enable dairy farmers to identify areas for improvement,'' Mr McCall said.
While the average farmer could take a few years to repay this season's loss, the top 20% would be able to recover much sooner, he said.
DairyNZ had set itself a goal of providing farmers with the support and information necessary to increase profit by $1kg ms.
Economic analyses and research had shown that could be achieved if expenditure was reduced and pasture eaten was increased by one tonne of dry matter/hectare by Christmas, he said.
The price for New Zealand's key dairy export, whole milk powder, might drop further at next week's GlobalDairyTrade auction as the country starts to ramp up production amid a global glut in milk supply.
The July whole milk powder futures contract last traded on the NZX at US$1910 a tonne. Because the price is an average of two fortnightly auctions and the contract was priced at US$2000 a tonne in last week's auction, traders see a decline of 10% to US$1800 a tonne next week.
The longer-dated whole milk powder futures contracts are all trading at a discount to the GDT, suggesting traders expect prices to fall. - Additional reporting BusinessDesk
